SG President Pat Kelly signed an executive order on March 20 to establish the Grant to Empower Multiculturalism.
The grant, one of the main aspects of Vice President Ray Bowman’s campaign platform, gives financial aid to groups holding culturally diverse events and programming, according to the order.
The grant has a total budget of $4,000 for the remaining seven weeks of the spring semester, leaving student organizations with limited time to spend the money.
Half of the grant’s budget comes from the president’s portion of the SG budget, which has a total allocation of $15,000, and half from the Vice President’s general fund, which has a total of $8,000.
Grant applications are due by March 24. Any group wishing to apply must clearly state how much money they are requesting, what the event will entail and how it will bring increased diversity to the AU campus.
The applications will be reviewed by the SG executives the week of March 24 to decide who receives funding. Decisions on how much a group receives will be need-based, according to Bowman.
Bowman said that he is excited to have the grant available to students, and hopes it can become a permanent part of SG. If so, he said that he would like the grant to have a budget of $4,000 per semester.
“I’m still working with [the] senate to hopefully get that grant something permanent in SG for years to come, but it’s a little difficult to work on the small details and how it’s going to work,” he said.
kmagill@theeagleonline.com
